Reason (or, as some prefer to call it in this limited sense, Understanding) is the power by which we compare, and, from our comparisons, draw inferences or conclusions. By means of it we compare the suggestions of the Imagination with the suggestions of Experience, and accept or reject the former in accordance with the result of our comparison.
xii. Hope
Hope is desire, of which we imagine the fulfilment, while recognizing the presence of doubt.
xiii. Faith
The following Definition appears to me to be the basis of all theology. It is no more than an emphatic restatement of the old saying, “Faith is the assurance of (or giving substance to) things hoped for.” Since hope is but a weaker and more hesitant form of desire, the imaging forth of (or giving substance to) things earnestly hoped for must imply the vivid imagination of the fulfilment of things desired.
Faith (when not loosely used for Belief) is desire (approved by the Conscience) of which we imagine the fulfilment, while putting doubt at a distance.
“Faith in a friend” means a desire as well as a belief—that he will do what you think he ought to do. “Faith” should never be used to express a belief that something undesirable or wrong will happen, e.g. “I have great faith that the boy will go wrong.” “Faith” in the uniformity of Nature implies a desire that Nature should be uniform, and a feeling that it is God’s will. In moments when we dread the uniformity of Nature we should say that we have a “conviction” or “expectation” of it, not that we have “faith” in it.
“Putting doubt at a distance is intended to include the different degrees of faith: in the highest faith, the ‘distance’ is infinite.
“When ‘faith’ is said to be ‘shaken,’ we may mean that, though the desire may remain, doubt is not ‘put at a distance;’ or that the Conscience no longer approves of the desire; or that the desire itself is weakened.”